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John Tory, meanwhile, kicked off the post-Labour Day sprint to the finish with an enthusiastic public endorsement from a provincial minister.

John Tory chats with members of the Labourers International Union of North America at the weekend Labour Day parade. He received an enthusiastic endorsement from Infrastructure Minister Brad Duguid on Tuesday. (Richard Lautens / Toronto Star)

Olivia Chow attempted to ignite her campaign Tuesday with a return to her “progressive” roots, promising to pay for a major expansion of student meal programs by sharply hiking the land transfer tax on homes sold for $2 million or more.

John Tory, meanwhile, kicked off the post-Labour Day sprint to Oct. 27 with an enthusiastic public endorsement from provincial Infrastructure Minister Brad Duguid, who made a strong and unusual suggestion that Tory is the favoured candidate of the Liberal government.

David Soknacki announced more details of his plan to extract savings from the police budget. And incumbent Rob Ford was nowhere to be found — so his campaign manager, Doug Ford, spoke for him again.

Chow, the only left-leaning candidate among the top four contenders, has lost support over the summer amid grumbling from her traditional base about her caution on taxes and her fiscally conservative rhetoric. Her familiar “value-of-a-dollar” language appeared only briefly in her first September announcement, replaced by talk of “fair” taxation and progressive “values.”

Chow said she would spend $2 million to allow 36,000 more students to enter the breakfast-focused meal programs that have been found to improve the health and educational outcomes of low-income children. She said she would raise $20 million by increasing land transfer tax rates by “1 per cent” on homes purchased for $2 million or more.

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Her plan is actually for a 1 percentage point hike, not a 1 per cent hike — a substantial difference. People buying a $2 million home would pay 56 per cent more than they do now, $55,725 instead of $35,725. People buying a $4 million home would pay 53 per cent more, $115,725 instead of $75,725.

Only a small number of homes — fewer than 600 over the past year, Chow said — have sold for more than $2 million. Chow said “all progressive people” will support a targeted hike that will let the government fund a program that helps “kids to succeed in school.”

“We need to invest in people now,” she said. “I’m being upfront to say: in order to invest now, you have to have different revenue. And I am making the system more progressive.”

Tory’s campaign said Chow is making a “hard left turn.” Soknacki said Chow is maintaining the “regressive” current system by refusing to offer relief for the average homebuyer. He has proposed to index the land transfer tax brackets to inflation in housing prices, reducing the burden on homebuyers when prices rise.

Chow’s day was complicated by a joint appearance at Kennedy subway station by Tory and Duguid, the MPP for Scarborough Centre and minister of economic development, employment and infrastructure. Duguid had already endorsed Tory, but he added a quasi-endorsement from his governing party while also insisting he was speaking only for himself.

“My colleagues, Liberal colleagues, I can tell you, at Queen’s Park, are almost unanimously enthusiastic about John’s candidacy,” Duguid said.

Tory and Ford want to build the planned Scarborough subway extension that is favoured by almost all Scarborough representatives. Chow and Soknacki want to revert to the originally planned light rail extension that is far cheaper.

Chow and Soknacki both pointed out that the only formal agreement with the provincial government is to build that LRT line, but Duguid signalled that the Liberals will make life difficult for any mayor who tries to retain the agreement. Though Premier Kathleen Wynne has been noncommittal, saying only that she will work collaboratively with the next mayor, Duguid said he would fight to his “dying day” to keep the subway.

Soknacki said he would allow the police, in certain circumstances, to use one-officer-car patrols like those used in many other cities; he offered a savings “target” of $15 million. He would also offer “early retirement incentives and other measures” to usher out expensive senior officers; he projected annual savings of $25 million.

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